So true.
I bought the game ... Last month maybe... I haven't slept since then haha. Now I haven't played the other Elder Scroll games so I don't no if Skyrim lives up to the legend or not, but to me, so far at least, its been a really good game.

So true.
I bought the game ... Last month maybe... I haven't slept since then haha. Now I haven't played the other Elder Scroll games so I don't no if Skyrim lives up to the legend or not, but to me, so far at least, its been a really good game.

I was the same - I'd never played the franchise before either, but REALLY enjoyed Skyrim. Apparently Oblivion was "better", I'm told, though I personally won't end up finding out. I don't like going backwards through franchises because I always end up disliking the earlier games intensely when I try them.

Oblivion was one of the greatest games of it's time. Personally, I enjoyed it when it first came out, did a bit of modding in some playthroughs, but once I played Skyrim I couldn't go back to it. The graphics of Skyrim were just so amazing compared to Oblivion.

Apparently Oblivion was "better", I'm told, though I personally won't end up finding out.

In my opinion it wasn't. Of the three Elder Scrolls games I've played (not counting expansion packs, but counting essential mods) Oblivion was probably the one I liked the least.

Morrowind was great because of its storyline and exotic setting, but less so due to the uninspiring quest structure and being a bit too much hands-off in letting you figure out on your own where to go and what to do, encouraging Play-by-Wiki gameplay. Many of the dungeon instances (Ancestral Tombs in particular) were also quite boring to explore since they rarely ever turned out to have any reason for you to enter them. The lack of fast travel (aside from boats, stilt striders and mages guild teleports), while making the world more immersive also became a bit of a chore after a while, when you had to traverse the same pieces of already explored and cleared ground over and over, going back and forth doing quests (or searching for quest objectives), especially combined with the snails pace movement speed before getting a respectable Athletics rank. Later on with high athletics and jump/slowfall potions moving about became much less of an issue though. Jumping halfway across the continent in a single leap was quite handy.

Oblivion had pretty landscapes, but they were a bit too mundane overall to impress me (not counting Shivering Isles). It would probably have been better if they stuck with the lore version of Cyrodiil, making it a vast jungle, rather than the Medieval Europe it was transformed into in Oblivion. The main plot was also very uninspiring to me. In Morrowind and Skyrim your character is Somebody (Nerevarine, Dragonborn). In Oblivion you were cast as the Somebody's errand girl, and remained there for the rest of the storyline while Martin Septim was the one who was essential for moving things along (again not counting Shivering Isles). The loss of the open world (with Cities now being instanced), copypaste dungeons and loss of flight/jump magic also annoyed me a little. The horrible user interface compared to Morrowind also didn't do the game any favors.

Skyrim improved on graphics further and fixed some of the flaws of the previous games. More varied environments, more distinct dungeons, more interesting and unique quests (aside from the Radiant FedEx quests), Shout magic, and you're back to being someone special again. On the down side they managed to make the user interface in Skyrim even worse than the one in Oblivion, and they dumbed down the game system perhaps a bit too much (for good or ill). The main plot was also more interesting, but a bit too short IMO.

Battle is a pure form of expression. It is heart and discipline, reduced to movement and motion. In battle, the words are swept away, giving way to actions-- mercy, sacrifice, anger, fear. These are pure moments of expression.

Pretty much some official mods with a pricetag. It'll be interesting to see how Beth handle it, as most of Hearthfire's features have already been implemented by Skyrim's modding community.

I'm a little sceptical about it - the new features sounds good on paper, but i think they're going to be shallow and unrefined, like most of the whole game (eg Marriage: One lousy ceremony and that's it).

I'm with JIGOS - Hearthfire sounds like a mod collection, not an expansion pack. I counted the days before I got Dawnguard, and I adore the whole thing. Heathfire I can probably live without, at least until I get some extra cash.

TES:Sims? Sounds a bit like the Keep management section in Neverwinter Nights 2 too, which I wasn't horribly fond of. I think I prefer roaming around adventuring. If I want an estate it would presumably be better to use the Creation Kit to make one, since it would be more like I wanted it that way.

Got Dawnguard and was satisfied with it (even though some things could have been fleshed out a bit more), but from what I've seen Hearthfire doesn't appeal to me. I think they should focus on making more full-blown quest arcs as DLC, since that's the one bit where the modding community is a bit weak in producing fully voiced quality content.

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Originally Posted by JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan

Speaking of marriage, they better be making Serana marriable..

Wouldn't that technically be necrophilia, since she's (un)dead and all?

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Originally Posted by JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan

And still no mention of sex. Adoption, but no creation?

You'll have to wait until you're the new emperor of Tamriel before you start another dynasty of dragonborns.

Hearthfire sounds rediculous, raising children? Total upkeep of a household complete with family sounds like "fun" but its not my thing, compared to what I'm used to (homeless sword roving). Settling down with a wife and kid is a cool feature but I don't know how interesting it would be compared to the default game.

Been play Skyrim again, quit last time due to TOR. At level 20 on a new character. Did a Breton female, not playing with any mods beyond cosmetic mods (stuff where character creation and clothing looks better) and a UI mod. Like the character so much better and it makes the game more addictive to me.

Haven't made much headway in the major quest lines yet, just having too much fun running around and hacking stuff. Think I stopped last time after being head of the Companions, Mage College and almost done with the main quest. Well this time I have already seen more of the map than last and I am still 10 levels below where I was.

Haven't purchased Dawnguard, but really don't care for the vampire stuff. As far as I'm concern the only good vampire in the Empire is a dead vampire.

I'm with JIGOS - Hearthfire sounds like a mod collection, not an expansion pack. I counted the days before I got Dawnguard, and I adore the whole thing. Heathfire I can probably live without, at least until I get some extra cash.

I think Hearthfire's worth in Microsoft points is $5 USD, and it should be a comparable price on PS3 and Steam when it comes out on each respective platform, so I'll probably get it on release. But knowing publishers, us gamers down in Aus/NZ will probably get a 200% markup or something. >.>

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Originally Posted by Prime

I'm kind of looking forward to it if it adds some decent options. I'm not overly fond of any of the houses in the existing game.

I really liked the house in Windhelm (the place where the bloody murders happened, lol), but I hated the town. The only city I liked was Whiterun, so I just stayed in that little cottage for the whole game. I hope this mod expansion will have some existing house modification options.
If not, I'll just get one of the hundreds of Breezehome expansion mods there already are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoffe

TES:Sims? Sounds a bit like the Keep management section in Neverwinter Nights 2 too, which I wasn't horribly fond of.

I was thinking of just that the other day (a mod combining aspects of The Sims with Skyrim - namely the range and depth of in-game activities). If I had any idea about modding, I might have tried to make it a reality, because I quite like the idea.

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Wouldn't that technically be necrophilia, since she's (un)dead and all?

...your point?

She can be convinced to become human, if you play your cards right. But regardless of what she is, it's apparent if you play the Dawnguard questline, that she has a (dead) heart of gold. So she's alright in my book.

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You'll have to wait until you're the new emperor of Tamriel before you start another dynasty of dragonborns.

I don't want an empire; I just want some logical consistency in my game mechanics.

...just a little?

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Originally Posted by Sabretooth

Hahaha, I think you're probably right about that.

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Originally Posted by mimartin

not playing with any mods beyond cosmetic mods (stuff where character creation and clothing looks better) and a UI mod.

I'm assuming that UI mod is SkyUI? That mod is absolutely essential. I have no idea what Bethesda was thinking when they designed the game's UI. It's absolutely horrible in terms of functional efficiency. SkyUI is everything the original UI should have been.

Along your guidelines of cosmetic changes, I highly recommend these mods:

Been play Skyrim again, quit last time due to TOR. At level 20 on a new character. Did a Breton female, not playing with any mods beyond cosmetic mods (stuff where character creation and clothing looks better) and a UI mod. Like the character so much better and it makes the game more addictive to me.

I'm mostly using appearance-enhancing mods and new clothing/armor mods, as well as the PC Exclusive Animation Path and a ton of animation mods that makes my character move differently from everyone else.

Haven't purchased Dawnguard, but really don't care for the vampire stuff. As far as I'm concern the only good vampire in the Empire is a dead vampire.

Don't tell the court mage in Solitude that, since she by all accounts is a vampire (try the Detect Dead spell near her).

If you want to kill vampires the Dawnguard DLC can still be worthwhile if you join the Dawnguard, since they're vampire hunter fanatics who's got plenty of work for you to deal with bloodsuckers. (Even though you'll be forced to work with a vampire, and even briefly become one, during the Dawnguard plotline.)

If you do get it, pick up the Better Vampires mod linked above and use it to reverse the vampiric condition so it makes more sense (i.e. being strongest when you're newly fed).

Quote:

Originally Posted by JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan

She can be convinced to become human, if you play your cards right. But regardless of what she is, it's apparent if you play the Dawnguard questline, that she has a (dead) heart of gold. So she's alright in my book.

Well, there is that. But then you'd need to stock up on a lifetime supply of eclipse arrows for Auriel's Bow first, since Vamp-Serana is the only one who can make them.

Well, there is that. But then you'd need to stock up on a lifetime supply of eclipse arrows for Auriel's Bow first, since Vamp-Serana is the only one who can make them.

That's true, but following this line of thought, I'd be a vampire hunter, and If so, there would be very little reason for me to blot out the sun.

Either way, I wouldn't want to make Serana change what she is. Her vampirism juxtaposed with her good personality makes up a large part of her character. Take the vampirism away, and she's just another human, imo.

I must say that i've found Skyrim a bit more fun once i got the Xbox 360 Xploder in the mail, and got access to a modded save through it as i no longer have to worry about money in any way shape or form.

I must say that i've found Skyrim a bit more fun once i got the Xbox 360 Xploder in the mail, and got access to a modded save through it as i no longer have to worry about money in any way shape or form.

Looks pretty legit, I may end up buying this and Dawnguard, or maybe I won't. I could use some new armor on my PC and right now I'm preoccupied by the Winterhold College Eye of Magnus quest because Mirabelle Irvine is missing from the college and I'm supposed to speak with her. Apparently others have encountered this glitch too, I found a solution that respawns her in the midden but I haven't tried it yet, hopefully it works.

Been a while since I've played Skyrim, but those look really good screens. Has Bethesda done anything with the engine/technical graphics? Either way it looks like they've taken some inspiration from the Morrowind conversion mod. >_>

A few screenshots of the upcoming DLC. From the look of things we'll be visiting Hermaeus Mora's realm.

Hermaeus Mora, eh? I told that punk to go screw himself in my playthrough.. I wonder if that will have any impact on possible dealings with him in the DLC..?

...knowing Bethesda, it will probably make no difference at all.

Speaking of, does anyone else find it strange that the PC can exhibit such bravado/insolence in the faces of so many daedric lords, and survive? IMO it's basically plot protection. Case in point: Molag Bal, the daedric lord of domination and enslavement of mortals, letting you go from his cage, just because you asked. That's some bs right there.

Personally, I like to headcanon that the Dragonborn has some kind of 'political protection' from the Nine Divines, or something.

Don't know. The Xbox version is out, but the PC version won't arrive until, and I quote, "early 2013". How vague can you get?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabretooth

Been a while since I've played Skyrim, but those look really good screens. Has Bethesda done anything with the engine/technical graphics? Either way it looks like they've taken some inspiration from the Morrowind conversion mod. >_>

Doubtful. They're probably Xbox screens, or they've been digitally tampered with. The original screenshots for Skyrim back in October '11 looked just as good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan

Speaking of, does anyone else find it strange that the PC can exhibit such bravado/insolence in the faces of so many daedric lords, and survive? IMO it's basically plot protection. Case in point: Molag Bal, the daedric lord of domination and enslavement of mortals, letting you go from his cage, just because you asked. That's some bs right there.

True. I always found that disturbing so I stuck with the pleasant answers when dealing with Daedra Lords. The only one that (sort of) smites you for your insolence is Dagon, and the only one that threatens you is Sheogorath. But really, the whole quest with Molag Bal is serious BS.